At Lead Generators we’ve always advised our clients to keep their emails, newsletters and other interactions with customers more on the personal side. Glossy sales circulars have been something to avoid.
Our philosophy being that by developing a relationship of trust with your own clients you’ll reap rewards from the long-term gains of customer loyalty rather than from the short-lived buzz of one-time sales.
However, we’ve recently read of some rather convincing research from a company called Epsilon International who’ve something to say on the matter. In their survey, specifically aimed at the Travel industry, they unearthed some statistics which speak for themselves. According to their study of 1,500 customers;
- 80% had purchased an air ticket as a result of receiving an email from a travel company.
- 70% snapped up a hotel room.
- 60% booked car hire.
- 35% bought a package holiday.
- 20% opted for a cruise product.
It’s difficult not to be impressed by such numbers. A third of those surveyed decided to purchase a package holiday based on nothing more elaborate than a sales-based email. Their report continued to say that;
- 86% of respondents who opt to receive email from travel companies do so to learn about sales, discounts and special offers.
- 51% subscribe to learn about existing packages and destinations
- 46% subscribe to hear about new packages, routes and destinations.
- 69% want to receive personalised content based on their website activity and past purchases, rather than generic content;
Ok, so there’s nothing new here. But it’s an important reminder of why a customer chooses to give you their details. If they have signed up to your mailing list it’s because they want to hear about your products. They want you to sell to them. They want the convenience of being told what you can offer them and the privilege of being first in the queue. They want to be flattered and appreciated. Epsilon’s final group of statistics claim that;
- 48% of respondents who receive permission-based email from a travel company said the email has a direct impact on offline purchases.
- 55% said they have a more favourable opinion of companies as a direct result of communications. A similar number said they felt more loyal towards a company and their brands.
Over the past few years we’ve seen online consumers become increasingly mistrustful of direct sales. This has been especially true of email marketing techniques, which have had a tendency to illicit a knee-jerk ‘spam reaction’, i.e. not only binned but done so with a degree of annoyance. If we trust the results of this survey it seems that these days are past, and that direct email marketing can enjoy tremendous successes.
However, as easy as it is to be seduced by Epsilon’s claims, we shouldn’t forget that they are a company that specialise in email marketing. It’s in their interests to show the effectiveness of such techniques and we should approach their findings with the same scepticism we’d bring to an in-house nutrition report from Burger King. This isn’t to say that all their work should be discredited, just that an acceptance of the theme of their report, but not an unquestioning belief in the specifics, would be the wisest path to follow.
Ultimately it should come down to an issue of balance. An awareness that mailing lists exist for a reason, and that we shouldn’t be hesitant to exploit them as a source of ready custom, should be countered by a desire to do so stylishly and unobtrusively. The relationship between businesses and users in online marketing is one that has evolved quickly over the past few years and continues to exist in a state of flux. When email marketing was first born as a concept it was leapt upon by every company with a web presence, consumers became swiftly and inevitably weary. The above report suggests that in fact, when they choose to engage with your firm on their own terms, your clients are now eager and ready for your sales to arrive in their inbox.
Perhaps the most useful element to take from this is that forms of marketing may drift in and out of fashion, but they’re rarely extinguished. It will always come down to the simple issue of communication. Does your market know what you have to offer? With web users now wanting your business brought to their feet, there seems to be no reason why email marketing should not be high on your list of priorities this year.
Travel, Cat Litter and Infidelity
Email Marketing - To Sell or Not To Sell?
